Petition to hold Dow Chemical accountable for the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy

SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) -Sofia Ashraf shot to fame when her song ‘Kodaikanal Won’t‘ that went viral last year. In it, Ashraf rapped against Hindustan Unilever’s thermometer manufacturing unit in Kodaikanal which was polluting the water sources. The song which was a parody of Nicky Minaj’s Anaconda was an instant hit on social media.

Now, she is back with another video titled ‘DOW Vs. Bhopal | A Toxic Rap Battle’ hoping to bring justice to the victims of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy.

Ashraf joined a group of activists and has also put up a petition on the White House website. Bhopal Gas Tragedy is one of the worst industrial disasters to have happened in India, the effects of which are still being felt. It exposed more than 5,00,000 people to methyl-isocyanate, killing many and causing deformities even in the third generation. Companies operating in these hazardous environments ought to look at ways to avoid these kinds of disasters from ever occurring again whilst also protecting their workers in their day-to-day duties. Using products, like storage solutions from storemasta, could help to keep incidents involving contact with hazardous materials at bay.

In the video, Sofia Ashraf questions the US Department for defending Dow Chemicals that caused the poisonous leak from the Union Carbide Plant. Dow Chemicals bought Union Carbide in 2001, but never accepted responsibility of the disaster.

A petition has been filed on the White House website, and received more than 100,000 signatures, urging the U.S. government to hold Dow Chemical Co. accountable for the 1984 Bhopal gas leak.

The petition has crossed the threshold of 100K signatures, making it mandatory for the White House to respond.

Titled ‘Uphold International Law! Stop Shielding Dow Chemical from Accountability for Corporate Crimes in Bhopal, India’, the petition, dated 15 May, says that the more than three decades of protection to Union Carbide (UCC), which is now owned by Dow Chemicals, must end.

Dow Chemical is the owner of Union Carbide, whose pesticide plant in the Madhya Pradesh capital leaked gas one evening in 1984, killing thousands of India residents in the process.

The petition was filed last month, the full text of which can be read below:

In 1984 a factory majority-owned by Union Carbide (UCC, a U.S. corporation) leaked toxic gas in Bhopal, India, killing 8K-10K people instantly & maiming 500K more. India charged UCC with manslaughter, but UCC refused to show for trial. Dow Chemical bought UCC in 2001 but has not made UCC available to face charges. Under a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, India sent 4 notices to the US Dept. of Justice to summon Dow to explain UCC’s whereabouts. The DoJ has ignored or obstructed every notice. The same DoJ made BP pay $4 billion in criminal fines and penalties for Deepwater Horizon. 31 years of US protection of UCC and Dow must end. We insist that the US govt. meet its obligations under Treaty & international law by immediately serving notice upon Dow to attend court in Bhopal on July 13, 2016.